Motor vehicle frame adjusting means



1936. R. D. SMITH ET AL 2,059,972

MOTOR VEHICLE FRAME ADJUSTING MEANS Filed Dec. 28, 1933 j P D. j/W/7'/-/ INVENTORS f? rP4A 5/5/v 4 BY FIE 5 A TTORNE Y.

Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOTOR VEHICLE FRAMEADJUSTING MEANS Application December 28, 1933, Serial No. 704,268

1 Claim.

The present invention pertains to the art of rectifying the shape ofmotor vehicle frames and more particularly the art of rectifying thosewhich have, through inadvertence or accident, become distorted, thoughit will be understood that it can be used with vehicles which were notgiven the correct shape at the factory.

Among the objects of this invention are to provide means whereby aframe, which is so surrounded by depending metal parts that the usualpoints of attachment are inaccessible, may be gripped and force appliedthereto; to provide means such that, even though the frame is soenclosed in depending fenders, etc., attachment may nevertheless be madeto the frame for the exerting of force thereon; and such furtherobjects, advantages, and capabilities as will hereafter appear and asare inherent in the construction disclosed herein. Our invention furtherresides in the combination, construction and arrangement of partsillustrated in the accompanying drawing and, while we have disclosedtherein what is now considered the preferred embodiment of thisinvention, we desire the same to be understood as illustrative only andnot to be interpreted in a limiting sense.

In the drawing annexed hereto and forming a part hereof,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a motor vehicle frame having two of ourimproved clamps attached thereto to illustrate how the apparatus is tobe applied;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse section designed to illustrate adetail of construction;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional elevation illustrating the application ofthe device to a frame member;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation on a somewhat larger scale than shownin Fig. l and illustrating in greater detail our construction;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the inside face of one of the clampingjaws.

Reference will now be made in greater detail to the annexed drawing fora more complete description of this construction. The side members ofthe motor vehicle frame are denoted by the numeral I and the crossmembers by the numerals 2, 3 and 4. These parts are merely conventionaland do not constitute any part of the invention. It is well understoodthat with the present tendency toward depending fenders which cover theends of the frame members it is impossible to make use of the structureswhich have been developed heretofore for the pulling of motor vehicleframes which are, for one reason or another, not rectangular. Since itis impossible to use these prior constructions in working upon the newercars, it has been necessary to develop new apparatus which can be usedupon these newer models for the desired pur- 5 pose. The presentapparatus is designed to meet this need.

In working upon a. motor vehicle, two units which are identical orsubstantially identical are made use of, one being attached to each side10 member of the frame. These units comprise a pair of gripping jaws 5and 6, a pair of units I, such as bolts and nuts, for drawing the jawstogether, a hook 8, and a chain 9. The hook 8 has a body If! providedwith a pair of apertures 15 for the reception of the bolts I and thepull exerted on the chain 9, in the direction of the. arrow, willtherefore be transmitted to both of the bolts and from these to thejaws.

At their lower ends, the jaws 5 and 6 are pro- 20 vided with inwardlyprojecting lugs II and I2 which mutually engage to hold the lower endsof the jaws separated a. fixed distance when the nuts are tightened upto cause the jaws to grip the frame member I which, as is wellunderstood, 5 is usually made of channel iron. It will be noted that oneof the jaws is made with a head extending laterally far enough to permitthe body of the jaw to clear the edge of the lower flange of member Iand to also permit the face of the 30 jaw to engage the body of theframe member. The jaws 5 and 6 are formed with sockets or depressions I3and I4 in which are mounted sharply corrugated hardened blocks I5, theteeth of which engage the web of the channel member 35 when the nuts onthe bolts I are tightened up to force the blocks I5 into engagement withthe frame member. It will be evident from Fig. 2 that the blocks I5 mustbe put into the sockets in the jaw members so that the teeth will point4.0 in the direction of the pull to be exerted. If they are put in thewrong way about, the teeth will slide over the frame member withoutbiting into same and the pull exerted on the frame member will thereforebe almost negligible. 4.5 However, when the blocks I5 are put in in theright way, a sufficient pull can be exerted to break a chain 9 withoutthe jaws slipping.

As indicated in Fig. 3, a chain I6 may be put through the opening abovethe projections II 50 and I2 and secured to some kind of means forholding the frame of the motor vehicle down in event it should bedesired to bend the frame member in a vertical direction, which might betrue if the frame had been bent in an accident. 55

Different companies manufacture frame straightening equipment with whichthis construction might be used to advantage and, therefore, no suchapparatus has been illustrated. It will be understood, however, thatsome sort of abutments or other holding means must be provided for usein conjunction with this apparatus. It is also understood that some sortof power means, for example, a jack, would be needed for furnishing therequisite power to cause the frame to be twisted as required.

In order to adapt this device for pulling in the opposite direction, avery simple adjustment is required, consisting in removing the nuts fromthe bolts 1, removing the blocks [5 and turning them end for end,turning the hook 8 end for end, and replacing the nuts.

It will be understood that the specific structure herein described maybe departed from without departing from the spirit of our invention asset forth in this specification and the appended claim.

Having now described our invention, we claim: A structure for thepurpose described comprising a pair of jaws having means at one end tohold the jaws separated, one of the jaws having .a head extendinglaterally toward the other jaw, the faces of the jaws toward each otherbeing recessed, hardened, sharply corrugated, gripping members locatedin the recesses in the jaws, means for drawing the jaws together to gripa frame member between them, and flexible means connected to the jawsfor exerting or resisting a lateral pull thereon.

FRANK J. FRANSEN. ROY D. SMITH.

